Texans’ preseason action a big hit on TV

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Texans fans are tuning into the team’s preseason games in numbers that rival any team in the league.

KTRK (Channel 13) recorded a 15.4 Nielsen rating and 30 share for the home opener Saturday night against Miami, which equates to an average audience of about 341,000 of the area’s 2.2 million TV households.

Even the glitch-filled opener against the Vikings on Aug. 5 did big numbers. That game averaged 542,000 total viewers for the first 75 minutes, 512,000 for the hour-long period that included several interruptions because of problems with the satellite uplink truck in Minneapolis and 485,000 for the second half.

Thirteen other markets among the 25 that use Nielsen local people meters also had football games at the top of the list, but only Chicago drew more total viewers at 622,000; Seattle, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Denver, Pittsburgh and Baltimore had higher ratings but, since they’re in smaller markets, fewer viewers.